Bertha's Story
CHAMPION OF CARE IN CRISIS: SUPPORT NURSE BERTHA’S TRANSPLANT JOURNEY
Preamble
In the bid to give life, Nurse Bertha started a deadly journey where she was going to lose her own life. After childbirth, she plunged into some postnatal complications which eventually shut her kidneys down and affected some major organs in her body. After about 4 months in the hospital, she was discharged home to survive on a dialysis machine. The only remedy to a full and productive life will be after she gets a new kidney through a transplant.
The Journey
12th Midnight, on the 16th of November 2021, baby BerthSeyram was born at the Adabraka Polyclinic. Named after the mother and father, she survived without breastmilk and a loving cuddle from her mom who was fighting for her own life in the hospital.
Bertha went into labour in the late hours of 15th November 2021. She was rushed to the Adabraka Polyclinic where she was attending her antenatal. It was observed that her BP was quite high therefore she was referred to do a scan at Ridge which she did and everything was Ok. She was then managed by the midwives who delivered her baby. The placenta was retained for a while and the midwife had to do a procedure to get it out. At the recovery ward, later, she bled so much but was still strong. She was discharged the same day which was the 16th in the morning. She was taken to Teshie where she was to be assisted by in-laws to care for the newborn. It was realized that she was not producing breast milk and the baby was crying and she could not rest at all. For the next 2 days, this continued and her BP kept rising.
The Third Year of Diagnosis
We are in the third year since Bertha was first diagnosed with CKD. A lot has happened within these years.
- She became very lean and totally deformed, very weak, and almost at the verge of death. Within this period she was readmitted to Korlebu several times.
- She recovered and started going back to work until the unfortunate situation happened at the 37 Military Hospital.
A CKD patient with already compromised HB, with punctured brachial artery, who just finished dialysis where heparin was used, developed hematoma, and after 24 hours of hand elevation, when it seemed resolved, there was a sudden rush of blood back into the arm tissues; a relapse of internal bleeding with an active AV fistula in place, causing swelling and tenderness at the site which is surrounded by very fragile blood vessels and nerves with aneurysm did not seem an emergency for some staff at the cardio ICU at 37 MH.
The result of this was:
- Bertha’s left hand is paralyzed and assumed condemned for fixing a new fistula; her ulnar nerves were damaged and are now healing.
- She has been in constant pain and discomfort from this injury.
- She is in serious psychological distress as she doesn’t know when this will resolve. She has become dependent since she cannot even do simple activities of daily living without assistance.
- She is to be referred to the plastic surgery unit and physiotherapy for further management.
- She is financially overburdened with these expensive corrective procedures to save her life, monies which could have been channeled to her weekly dialysis or accumulated towards her kidney transplant.
This situation was preventable, and the current complications were preventable if only someone was a little more proactive. If only someone had paid a little more attention to the red flags and the details.
